Moving On
by only2ndplace
Summary: Moving on. It's hard for humans and even harder for gems. For Pearl it might just be the hardest thing, she's ever done. However, getting in contact with the pink haired stranger she met yesterday, might just help her with that.
1. Talking

_That girl._

 _There's definitely something about her._

 _I mean, it's not just about the pink hair ..._

 _But what if -_

"Hey P, whatcha doing?"

"Huh?"

I turned around, startled.

Amethyst was casually walking up the arm of the temple.

I cleared my throat.

"Laundry. As you can clearly see.", I said keenly, enunciating the fact by neatly folding up the red shirt, I was holding to my chest, and putting it down on the washing machine.

Perhaps a bit more forceful than necessary.

"Ha, I didn't know laundry required so much blankly gazing into the night sky."

I felt color rising to my cheeks.

"W- well, I was just thinking about how much fun we had at the concert today. We should definitely do that again some time."

"Oh yeah.", she said knowingly, while taking the last steps unto the large stone hand I was standing on. "Fun times. Some parts were definitely worth remembering. Or should I say some people."

She nudged me "in the ribs", as humans would call it.

All the while wearing her Amethyst smile.

The one she makes, when she knows she's in trouble.

Or when she knows she has the right to be sassy.

For once I wished, it was the former.

"Yes, that too, I guess. Did you put Steven to bed already?", I asked, a little more coldly, than I intended.

"Sure did. Dude, fell into bed like a rock.", she said, letting her arms drop. "Must have been pretty tired after all the excitement. And you know I'm not just talking about the loud music or the dancing fans, so don't go trying and change the subject."

"It has been quite the crazy night hasn't it?", I said quietly, looking away.

A few silent seconds passed, that felt more like minutes, than anything else.

Then, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up. Amethyst was looking into my eyes, concern written in her face.

"Hey, Pearl. You know you can talk to me, right? You seemed so excited when we were on our way to the concert. Trying new things, all brash and ready to take on the world. I was so happy to see you come out of your shell and get around a bit for once. And the way you talked to that mystery woman. Man, I've never seen someone so smooth in my life.", she said with a grin and I couldn't help but smile along a little as well.

Her face fell again.

"But then, on our drive back, you were just all distant and sad. What happened?"

I let out a heavy sigh, walked over to the edge of the platform and slid down onto the stone. Amethyst sat down next to me and together we watched the calm waves quietly wash ashore for a moment.

Knowing, I wasn't getting out of this heart to heart and that I very well needed it, I gathered the courage to tell her the truth.

"I just don't know. All these feelings are so confusing. How can I be so entranced by someone I practically know nothing about? At first it just felt so great. Living in the moment and just going with the flow for once, but on our way back I thought a little more on it. I mean, we don't even know each others names! And then all these thoughts for Rose started coming back. Is it all just, because they look so much alike?"

"Pshh, so you like big women with long pink hair. Big deal."

"Amethyst, that's not helping!", I shouted, but immediately regretted it.

"Sorry, it's just … I thought … I thought I had finally moved past these feelings and then … and then _this_ happens!", I yelled at the beach, raising my hands to the sky.

"It's okay, P. You know I've never had a … you know, a _thing_ like that", Amethyst said, vaguely waving her hands in front of her, "but she was important to me too. And that will never go away. For both of us."

"I don't _want_ it go away. But I thought I could at least finally move on with my live."

I paused, looking away.

"I guess I was wrong."

"Pearl, look at you! You've done a whole lot of moving on. You made up with Greg, you went to a rock show with us. You drank a freaking juice! If that's not moving forward, I don't know what is."

I didn't know what to say after that, so we just sat there quietly for a bit longer.

"But you know what's really gonna do some moving on? You should call her."

"Call her? Oh, right the phone thing."

I briefly considered this. It made me excited and nervous at the same time.

"Right now?", I asked unsure, blushing again.

This got a laugh out of Amethyst. "Not now. Tomorrow. I'm sure Steven wouldn't mind us taking his phone for this, but humans gotta sleep, remember? Even a rocker like her."

"Oh … right."

"Anyways", she said, standing up," you should probably find something to take your mind off of all

this stuff until then. I'mma go nap somewhere. Nothing else going on, right? Maybe you should try that to." She started walking down the arm back to the temple.

"No thanks. I think I have something better in mind."

"Suit yourself.", Amethyst replied, waving at me without turning around.

Before she could vanish below the edge of the hand I quickly shouted:

"Oh, and Amethyst."

"Hmmh?" She looked back.

"Thanks. For everything."

That got an even bigger grin out of her than before.

"Heh, who would have thought, it'd be me handing out the awesome relationship advise. We usually got Garnet for that."

That got smile out of me as well.


	2. Calling

I was floating in total darkness.

No feeling, but the soft wetness of water touching the bottom of my feet.

Perfect balance.

"Morning, Pearl."

"Good morning to you too Amethyst."

"Man, have you been sitting here like this all night?"

I cracked open an eye.

"Yes. Meditation is not only an important mental exercise, but also very healthy for the spirit. You can join me if you want."

"Nope, I'm gonna pass. And 'healthy for the spirit'? The way you're sitting there looks kinda painful. I don't think bumming around like that for hours can be considered anything other than _boring_."

I opened my other eye and shot her a curious look. "Isn't that basically what sleeping and napping is about."

"Nah! Well … yeah I guess, but that's totally different. You don't actually experience all that lying around. It's a great way to skip ahead, when nothing's happening. You just fall asleep and Bamm! wake up instantly a few hours later. It's like … like a time machine! If you'd do it more often, you'd know how great it is."

"It sounds more like a huge time _waste_ machine to me. I'd rather use that time for something productive. And than there's those weird hallucinations that go with it."

I had to suppress a shudder at that.

"Whatever.", she waved of. "I guess there's no sense talking to someone about sleep, who doesn't even like _food_. I just came in to tell you, that Steven's up now, if you want to call your mystery woman."

"I see. Thanks for telling me, but there's no rush.", I said as calmly as possible.

And I meant it.

The hours of meditation had done a lot to clear my mind and I didn't want to inconvenience Steven so early in the morning.

"Nah-ah Pearl. You agreed to call her and that's what you're going to do.

Now.

I know you. If I let you of the hook now, you're gonna spend the next couple of days fretting whether you should go through with it and when the best time would be and yada yada yada."

She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.

I sighed and got done from the large fountain I was sitting on. The most annoying thing about her insistence was probably, that she was right.

"Alright, I'll do it, but only if Steven doesn't need his phone right now."

"Ha, are you kidding me? Little dude's probably more wired up about that call than you. When he woke up and saw the number on the counter, he told me to get you immediately, so he could grab some breakfast. Man, even I couldn't shovel cereal that fast."

The thought of Steven being so excited about all this brought a large smile to my face. It also helped to ease my nerves a bit.

"Fine. I goes I can't say no, if Steven's already waiting on us. I'll be right there."

After enjoying a few more seconds of silence after Amethyst left and gathering my courage, I stood up and left my room.

* * *

As soon as Steven saw me stepping out of the temple chamber, he came running over for a good morning hug.

"Pearl!"

"Good morning to you too, Steven."

"So you're really going through with it? Calling her I mean?"

"Yes, Amethyst is right: Waiting is only going to give me more reasons to put it off."

As soon as I'd said that, Amethyst jumped up from the couch, as if stung, and grabbed the calendar from the wall.

I raised an eyebrow at her.

She just shot me her grin. "You agreed I was right about something. Gotta mark the day."

Steven giggled and I just rolled my eyes.

"Hold on, just gotta grab my phone real quick.", he said disappearing upstairs into his bedroom.

He was back in a blink, practically pushing the phone into my hands.

"Alright, alright.", I said spurred on by his excitement. "So how does this work?", I asked, turning the phone over in my hands and inspecting it.

"Oh, it's really easy. Here,", Steven said tapping onto a few places on the screen, "you just put in the number and push the green button, when you're done. Wait 'til she picks up and speak into the microphone."

I took the slip of paper he gave to me and pushed in the sequence of digits.

My finger hovered over the green button.

Better to compare the numbers one more time. Or two times.

Just to make sure, of course.

I felt a bead of sweat rolling down my forehead.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. I had no idea what to say to this girl. I wasn't even sure why she gave me her number. Humans gave these to each other if they wanted to communicate, right?

But there had to be rules about this kind of communication. Etiquette and such. And I had no idea about that. Maybe I should just wait a bit longer and ask someone about these things. Yes. That would probably be for the best. I would probably just inconvenience her if I called now and didn't now how all of this worked.

I was about to hand the phone back to Steven and explain the good reasons, for why this call had to wait, when I heard Amethyst groaning behind me.

"Oh my gosh, Pearl! Just get on with it."

Before I could react, she stepped over and pressed her finger on the call button.

I snatched the phone out of her reach and shot her a glare, that could have frozen over a volcano.

I was too late though. The phone let out a long beeping sound and I almost dropped it in shock.

I looked at Steven for instructions, who just silently gestured for me to hold the phone to my ear and wait.

As I did, another beep sounded from the phone. And then another. And another. I just hoped the phone would give me some kind of signal to start talking.

The wait was agonizing.

After a small eternity the somewhat distorted voice of a woman rang through the speaker.

"Hey, sorry I'm not on right now. Guess I'll speak to you later."

After that there was another beep and the phone went silent.

"Hello?", I probed tentatively.

"This is Pearl. Can you hear me?"

I turned to Steven. "She just said she's 'not on right now' and the phone went silent."

"Oh, you're on her voice mail. Just leave a message. She'll be able to call you back later.", he said in a hushed tone.

I cleared my throat. This was going horribly.

"H- Hello, this is Pearl. We've met at the concert yesterday and you gave me your number. That's why I'm calling right now. But I guess you already knew that. Anyways, I guess we'll talk later? Or not? I don't know how this works. Goodbye."

I pushed the red button, as if my life depended on it.

It was all I could do to not just through the phone against the wall.

"Whelp, that went horrible." I shot another death glare at Amethyst, but she just shrugged.

I took a deep breath and sighed. It _had_ gone very different than I expected.

Amethyst was right.

Again.

Uncannily often in the last few hours.

"I'm sure she'll understand. You're new to this after all. She's probably just busy right now and can't pick up.", Steven said, trying to defuse the situation. "I'm sure she'll call back later, you can explain everything to her and she won't mind."

Well, I was hoping Steven was right. Or maybe, if I was lucky, the call had somehow gotten lost in the transmission process.

Humans were using light for most of their communication after all, if I remembered correctly.

 _What a primitive and slow method of information interchange. In addition to being prone to disruption and interception._

 _Though I guess considering the time and resources they have to work with, it's not that bad._

 _And they only need to send signals across one planet after all._

"You're right, Steven. Nothing I can't deal with later.", I said, handing him the phone.

"Anyways, I believe Connie will be coming over for our training soon. We better go and make ourselves ready", I added and headed back into the temple interior.

I didn't really have to prepare anything, but at least it gave me some time to order my thoughts.

* * *

The practice session did a lot to put my mind back on other things. I was impressed time after time how quickly Connie had picked up on sword fighting.

She was well on her way to becoming a masterful knight.

It filled me with pride seeing her expertly dance around three holograms advancing on her, striking down one after the other.

However, while dealing with these attackers, she didn't notice another pair of holo-pearls sneaking up on her from behind, flanking her and readying to strike.

I was just about to intervene, when Steven intercepted the attack with his shield, giving Connie enough time to spin around and take out the attackers.

"Alright, those were the last ones.", I announced. "Well done as usual you two."

Walking over to them, I could already tell from a distance, that this round had taken quite a lot out of them, especially Connie. She was panting heavily, bracing her arms on her knees, her brows drenched in sweat. It seemed she had even gotten a few cuts and bruises from the whole ordeal.

"Oh my! Connie, you look pretty hurt, are you okay? Oh, I knew, I shouldn't have given into your request and increased the level of the holo-pearls just yet. I'm really sorry."

Connie however, just shot me a confident grin.

"It's no problem, Pearl, I asked for it after all. Plus, if I'm not pushing my limits, how am I ever going to get better?"

"Well, if you say so. But it wouldn't hurt for you to take on a less offensive tactic in these more advanced training sessions. It's no shame to take up a more passive stance or retreat, if you're up against a stronger opponent."

 _A lesson, that took me a long time to learn too …_

"Let's get you patched up."

"Yes Ma'am!"

I went over to the stands surrounding the arena and began materializing a roll of bandage, while Steven warped away, to get him and Connie some refreshments.

I could tell, that Connie would have preferred to patch herself up. She seemed embarrassed by my fussing, but I just shot her a look that brooked no argument and began applying disinfectant to her cuts.

While it could be argued, that a simple plaster would have been enough for most of these scratches, I wasn't about to take any chances.

Gems can't really get any infections – bacterial or otherwise – since we don't, strictly speaking, have a biology. However, I had read enough about these sorts of things, in addition to caring for Steven when he got sick, to know, they are nasty business.

I was just bandaging part of Connie's arm, when I could here the glimmer of the warp pad activating at the other end of the sky arena.

That sound was shortly followed by another noise entirely: a high ringing tone.

In that moment I should have been glad not to have any blood, because it would have probably frozen in my veins.

"Ow! Pearl, not so tight."

"S- Sorry.", I apologized sheepishly, loosening my grip on the bandage, that my hand had suddenly clutched around.

Then the ringing stopped and for a few moments, there was only silence.

I turned towards the entrance, to see Steven ascending the final stairs into the arena proper, a tablet loaded down with melon slices and two cups of juice in his hands, the phone wedged in between his ear and shoulder.

"No, no. This is Steven."

"..."

"I guess you could say that. It's kinda complicated."

"..."

"Yeah, just wait a sec, I'll put her on."

He had now crossed the distance between us, put down his tablet and held the phone out to me.

"It's for you, Pearl.", he added unnecessarily, with a big grin.

"Eh, yes, but as you can see, I'm still busy bandaging Connie. Maybe you can tell her, I'll call her back?"

"It's no problem, Ma'am, Steven can help me finish the rest myself.", Connie offered, beaming as well.

I guess my distress at the whole situation wasn't so readily apparent after all.

 _Don't you just hate it, when they're trying to help in the most unhelpful way possible?_

I took a deep breath and grabbed the phone.

Better to just get it over with.

"Hello, this is Pearl."

"Hi Pearl, it's Sam from yesterday. Sorry I couldn't pick up earlier, I'm still at work. But it's lunch break right now, so I thought I might as well take the time to call you."

"Oh, that's really not a problem. I'm sorry for the message I left. You can probably tell I'm new to this whole phone business."

She just chortled at that.

"Heh. I know I couldn't get by without a cell. Anyways, I'm working a summer job in a small coffee shop in town. My shift ends at ten, so I thought you might wanna come over for a cup or two. The atmosphere is quite nice and there's probably no one else around at that time of day anyways. Whaddaya say?"

"Sure, that sounds nice.", I said

Even though I still wasn't very fond of the idea of drinking – much less eating – anything, I didn't have any other meet-up places in mind, so I just went along with her idea.

I could always just explain to her, that I didn't really need to consume anything.

"Great. It's located at the western end of the beach. You can't miss it. Alright, I gotta get back to work. See you later."

"Goodbye."

I pressed the red button.

Well, that was the phone call taken care of.


	3. Meeting

_Sea Foam Coffee-To-Go._

 _What a strange name._

I had never understood, why humans had entire buildings and businesses dedicated to the distribution of food, where they sometimes spent several hours. If I was forced to consume organic matter out of necessity for survival – perish the thought – I certainly wouldn't want to make such a big deal out of it.

I'd just get it over with as quickly as possible.

 _Plus, there's plenty of sea foam to be found everywhere on the beach. Why would people pay money for that?_

Amethyst had suggested wearing the same "outfit" I had put on yesterday, but I declined. I'd rather meet this girl looking like myself.

My decision was also helped by the fact, that I wouldn't complain if I didn't have to wear pants again for the next couple thousand years.

It was 9:55. I'm not known to be late for appointments, after all.

I had already arrived a while ago, but upon arriving I had remembered, that she'd told me she would be working until 10. And I certainly wouldn't want to inconvenience her by entering too early.

Thus, I had spend the last couple minutes internally debating, whether I should already go in or not.

"You've been standing there for an awful' long time. The doors open, you know."

Startled, I turned around.

There, standing in the entrance of the cafe, her head poking out through the door with a cheeky smile, was the pink haired woman.

"Yes, of course … I was just … I didn't want to … "

Before I could explain myself, she just chuckled and waved me in.

She walked me over to one of the tables at the windows side with a nice view of the beach.

"I know we've already introduced ourselves over the phone, but anyways: My names Samantha, but my friends just call me Sam.", she said holding out her hand.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Pearl.", I said shaking it.

"I'm glad you could make it."

She took a seat and gestured for me to do the same.

"Can I get you anything? The specialty of the house is coffee, as you might have been able to guess. If you wanna call the cheap to-go stuff in paper cups a specialty."

"Er … no thanks. I'm good."

"Aww, I was just joking around. For what it's worth, the brew of this joint is actually quite good.

Or at least that's my opinion, as semi professional coffee sommelier."

She underlined her statement by exaggeratedly putting her hand on her chest and shooting me another cheeky grin.

"No, no it's fine. Really."

"Ah, I see: You're not a coffee person. Well, we've got plenty of other stuff. Tea, hot chocolate, soda, beer, … You name it."

"I don't really drink."

"Well, most of the stuff I mentioned is non-alcoholic, so … "

"What? I said, I don't consume liquid. At all. Whether it's molecules have hydroxyl groups or not."

"At all? … Wait. Weren't you drinking apple juice yesterday? You were just getting a cup, when we met."

"That was a one time thing! I avoid drinking whenever possible, because it's a vile experience!"

I was almost yelling at this point.

Why did she have to be so insistent? It's not like it had to matter to her, what I put into my body.

There were a few seconds of silence after that.

"So … I'm guessing eating is of the table as well?"

I just shot her a deadpan look.

"Right, right, just checking. I guess I'll just go grab something for myself real quick. Be right back."

With that she stood up and went into the backroom.

When she returned, she was smiling again.

"Radical set yesterday. The best part was the after-show, of course. You stayed around for that?"

"No, though I'm sure it would have been fun. Amethyst wanted to stay at first, but I had to get Steven to bed and she didn't want to stay alone. But still, it was nice. Much better, than I would have expected."

She suppressed a yawn at that.

"Yeah, I guess the going to bed part is something I should've taken to heart as well. I mean it wasn't that late – not for me at least – but combined with the last few days, you know …

You seem pretty well rested though."

"Ah yes, that's probably, because I don't actually need to sleep."

"Oh. So you're an insomniac night owl, just like me?"

That gave me pause. "I don't really have any preferred daytime. And I don't know what 'insomniac' means."

"Well, I can't give you the medical description, but from what I know, it's a sort of disorder, that makes it hard for people to fall asleep."

"Disorder? To me, not needing to sleep sounds like a good thing."

Now it was her turn to look deadpan. "It's not. Just because you can't fall asleep doesn't mean you don't _need_ to. It's a very serious illness. I mean, it's not like I'm a severe case. With me it's more about being a night person, who can't get up in the morning."

"Ah, I think I understand."

I didn't understand at all.

I knew that humans need sleep, but I had never given much thought as to why.

Sure, I need relaxation too and I get very tired now and again, but not to the point, that I would just fall unconscious for a couple of hours.

How exhausted do you have to be for that to happen anyways?

The only time I had tried sleeping was back when we had been searching for Malachite non-stop for couple of weeks and I don't think I've ever been as exhausted as I've been back then.

Even after that, the whole experience was still very alien to me.

When Steven had spend his first night in the freshly built house in front of the Temple, I had actually shaken him awake a few minutes after he had fallen asleep. I mean, he'd suddenly just stopped moving. I thought he died.

It took him a lot of convincing to be allowed to get back to sleep at all that night.

After that, I continued to watch over him every time he went to sleep. Humans are fragile enough as it is after all, but they're completely helpless, while they're asleep. Another reason, why the concept just baffles me.

At first I didn't trust he would wake up on his own. Again and again I thought 'This will be the night: He's going to go to bed and just continue sleeping forever'.

After a while I didn't worry anymore, but I still like to watch him sometimes.

I don't know what it is, but watching someone sleep is just mesmerizing.

"So … You've been to any other cool shows lately?", Sam tried after a while, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Oh no, this was my first one, actually."

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed."

I couldn't tell whether she was mocking me or whether she was genuinely surprised. If she was just teasing though, she hid it well.

Her smile was as bright as ever.

"Anyways, what's your relation to this Steven kid? From what I've heard from him on the phone, he seems like a sweet boy."

"Eh … It's complicated."

"Heh. That's what he told me as well."

"Well, I guess you could say, that Garnet, Amethyst and I are his guardians. We're all living together in the Temple at the end of the beach. Or to be more accurate, the three of us live in the Temple and he lives in the house in front of it. He has a room in the interior as well, but he hardly uses it."

"I didn't know there were any temples around here. Then again, I haven't exactly been in Beach City for long."

"It's not a temple in the usual sense of a religious sanctum. I guess it would be more appropriate to call it's exterior a 'statue'. It is a fairly large structure though, I'm surprised you haven't noticed it yet."

She just smiled at that.

"Welp, you can see I'm cranking shifts from sundown to sunset, so I haven't exactly gotten around the city as much as I would've liked.

This is just to get the dough for college though. Working my ass of at a part time job in Empire City during semester is just not enough to pay those ludicrous fees, you know.

So I take whatever odd job I can during summer and winter break."

I didn't really know what to reply to that. Money was another one of those human things I just wasn't very interested in.

And why would I need to be? It's not like gems have any living expenses, so that just left electricity and water for the house and food for Steven. Though if I had to wager, I'd say Amethysts strange habit of consummation played a big part in the budget as well.

"So, what do you do for a living?", Sam continued, after I failed to say anything.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, like your job? Or are you also still in college?"

"Mmh. I'd say I never really had a 'job' per see. And I've never heard of this 'college'."

"Well, you said you, Steven and the other guys you mentioned live in your house at the temple. Somebody's gotta pay the bills for that, right?"

"Ah, of course. Greg works at the local car wash, so he pays for everything."

"Who's Greg?"

She seemed very lost at this point.

When I thought about it, she had seemed pretty lost during most parts of the conversation.

Although, I had to admit that was a somewhat mutual feeling.

At least she was still smiling, though it seemed a bit unsure at this point.

"He's Steven's … father."

She must have picked up on the strain in those words.

"So I'm guessing he doesn't live with you? Why?"

I looked away.

"It's - "

"Complicated? Don't worry, I understand. Don't have the best relationship with _my_ parents either."

"I don't have any parents.", I stated matter-of-factly.

I didn't know why I felt the need to say that.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Why?"

She just stared at me in shock for a few moments. It seemed like she was struggling for the right words.

"You … I mean I don't get along well with my parents, but they're still my _parents._

Though I guess as an orphan, you would have a different perspective on that."

"As an orphan?"

I didn't think her stare could get any more deadpan. It was really making me uncomfortable at this point.

"A person, who didn't grow up with their biological parents. You know, like you.", she said in monotone, though the words just seemed to spill out of her automatically.

"Ah, I see where our misunderstanding lies:

I meant, I never had any parents, biological or otherwise.

Gems aren't really born as humans are, you see.", I explained trying to salvage the situation.

She wasn't smiling anymore.

"Gems?"

To say everything suddenly fell into place would be an understatement.

"Of course! I see were our misunderstandings are coming from. This entire time, you thought I was human!", I exclaimed, grabbing my forehead and rolling my eyes – more at myself then at her.

"Of course. How absurd of me to assume."

Was that a hint of sarcasm?

"No, no, I'm sure this is all on me. I should have known. You haven't been here long, so it's no surprise, you haven't heard about the Crystal Gems yet."

In hindsight, that might have sounded just a little condescending.

"Well _excuse_ me. You look very human to the untrained eye. Wanna let me in on the important distinction, I missed?", she said with a slight glare, her arms crossed over her chest

"I guess the first clue would be my gemstone", I said pointing at my forehead.

I didn't appreciate her change of tone at all and it was making my remarks more jaded as well.

"Oh, how silly of me to assume that to be some sort of bindi jewelry.", she said, slapping her forehead exaggeratedly. "So what about the rest of you? Any explanation for the uncanny resemblance to human anatomy?"

"Like I told you yesterday: My body is just a construct of photonic molecules, that I can will into a specific shape. Considering the appearance of the rest of the population, a human form seemed like a prudent choice wouldn't you agree?", I explained dryly.

"What do you mean 'I told you yesterday'? … Oh, this is about the 'conscious manifestation of light'-thing. You meant that literally?"

It seemed she had to take a few moments to digest that.

"So what about the other things that you said? You proclaimed you saved the world.

Please tell me that was just the craziest pick-up line I've ever heard and you don't actually believe that too.", she said, her tone almost begging.

"So now you're calling me a liar. Is that what this is?"

"Oh no, I, like, totally believe you. It's just way more plausible, that you're actually a magical rock made out of light, than all of this just being made up by someone who's completely lost her marbles."

The room was so saturated with sarcasm, that I could have sworn it was starting to condense on the windows.

I was at a loss of words for a few moments, so taken aback was I by the audacity of her statement.

"You've got some nerve, talking to me like this.

You don't even know me or anything about the workings of this world, yet here you are making bold statements, like you've seen it all. I cannot begin to tell you, how pretentious this is for a human, who's only been alive for a couple of years at most.

The only crazy thing I see is, how you behave like you've seen it all, when your perspective on everything is slim at best."

Until now, I hadn't even noticed, that at some point during our argument, we had both stood up, our faces only separated by a few centimeters.

After I had finished my piece though, she recoiled as if I had hit her square in the face, staring at me in wide eyed bewilderment.

Then her eyes narrowed again.

"Either you're just a narcissistic lunatic or you think me a complete moron. I can't tell, which of these options is sadder."

She took a step back from her chair.

"Fine. You want proof? I'll give you proof!", I said, reaching for my gem to summon my spear. Purely for demonstrational purposes of course, though I would be lying if I said, that I hadn't been just the slightest bit tempted to use it.

"No thanks, I think I've seen enough.", she said, her voice frozen solid, and started to make her way to the backdoor of the café.

Now it was my turn to look totally dumbfounded.

"What?! I'm offering the proof you've been asking for! You can't just walk away like this. That's completely unreasonable!"

"Watch me."

Before I could get in another word, she disappeared into the room behind the counter.

I considered running after her for a moment, just to prove to her I was right, but almost immediately decided against it.

If she wanted to be like this, that wasn't my problem at all.

Letting out one final scream of frustration, I turned around and stormed out of the café.


	4. Fuming

When I arrived back at the temple, I had just enough present of mind to remember, that Steven was probably already sleeping and I could not just enter the house, by slamming the door open. Instead, I opted to open it very forcefully, all the while mumbling angrily under my breath, which I had probably been doing the entire way back from the café.

"So, how was your date?"

I looked up. Garnet was sitting on the couch, looking for all the world like she had always been there.

I stood in the door frame, handle still in hand. I could not tell, if she was being sarcastic, but I just threw her a look. In hindsight, she had probably anticipated the possibility of this outcome to me meeting with Sam and thus waited for me to return, just in case. That thought didn't occur to me in that moment though.

After holding eye contact with her for a few more seconds, I just started walking towards the door of the temple.

"Ah", Garnet stated, matter-of-factly.

I stopped and turned around.

"Let's talk about it." She patted the cushions next to her and smiled.

My first instinct was to continue walking into my room and start meditating to sort my feelings out, but I thought better of it. Additionally, you don't say no to Garnet, when she's like this.

It was probably for the best. That thought _did_ occur to me in that moment and it made it all the more frustrating.

I plopped down next to her with a groan.

"I don't even know where to start."

"The beginning, usually."

"Well, at first everything was going fine. I was nervous. A lot. But she seemed really nice and I very much enjoyed chatting with her, even though it was a bit awkward in parts. Well, I guess she was a bit pushy, when it came to drinking and eating, but I could deal with that.

And then she just started calling me a liar and a 'narcissistic lunatic' out of the blue."

"Out of the blue?" Garnet turned to face me and I could have sworn her visor hid a raised eyebrow.

"I told her, that I'm a gem, that my body is made out of light and that I saved the world and she just got mad at me."

I think, I was just about to see her eyebrow poke out from under her visor.

"It's not something you get told every day.", she stated neutraly.

Well, I had to admit, that's true. Even if another gem told me, she saved an entire planet, I'd be pretty skeptical.

"It's no reason to get so worked up. If someone makes a statement, that you think is outrageous or wrong, you can argue against it. As long as you're reasonable and willing to listen, logic and discussion will sort such problems out for you."

"Were you?"

I immediately, wanted to respond 'yes', but my conscience was stopping me. Argh. Why do these talks about my problems always feel so one-sided?

"I might have slipped up a little, but I tried my best. I was even about to show her some proof, but then, she just ran off. Who does that? It's not logical at all. If she was so confident, she's right, why didn't she just hear me out? Maybe she just didn't want to admit the truth."

"Seems like she's not the only one, who's angry."

"Of course I'm mad. Who wouldn't be after such a treatment?"

"There's probably someone else thinking that right now."

That gave me pause.

"I guess, I could have tried to stay a bit calmer. I just feel like she didn't really get me. It seemed like she was listening, but she didn't hear what I was saying at all."

"Seems to me like that's another feeling you share."

We just sat in silence after that. My anger was beginning to cool down, but now, a small sliver of guilt was beginning to take its place. Great. If there's one thing, that Garnet's good at, it's making you feel guilty.

I immediately regretted that thought after it entered my mind and now the guilt was kicking in at full force.

"Look, I bet she doesn't feel good about this either. From what I've gathered, you've just talked past each other. It's just a misunderstanding. You can clear that up.", she tried to encourage me.

I sighed in defeat. As always, Garnet was offering solid advice, but even knowing that in my mind, I didn't know, if I could accept it yet.

"I'm not sure she's still willing to talk to me. Or that I'm that willing to talk to her for that matter. It's not like what she said was okay."

"That's _exactly_ , why you need to talk to her."

"She's probably still mad."

"So are you. But if you're willing to put that aside, that's all that matters. There's always the possibility, that she doesn't regret what she said at all, but then she's not really the person you want to get to know anyways."

Well, for someone trying to embrace reason, I felt I was rather busy turning away from it by making excuses. But still, knowing you're wrong and accepting you're wrong are two very different things.

"What if we talk past each other again? I don't want to make everything worse."

"You can't exclude the possibility. It'll work out if you try though. Just remember: She's a human and doesn't know anything about you. And you don't know anything about her. Expecting her to know everything or even anything about gems is not going to help you. Put yourself in her shoes. "

"Right, I guess it's just been so long, since I've really met with a person, who didn't know me at all, that I just don't know how to handle it anymore.", I had to admit.

I had to laugh a little at that thought. I stood up from the couch.

"Thanks Garnet, I really needed this." I smiled at her.

"No problem. Just remember, she's not Rose."

My smile immediately dropped.

"That's unfair."

She bent her head a little.

"You're right. I'm sorry."

I accepted her apology, but I didn't know what to say, so instead, I just quickly walked to the temple door in silence.

I was glad, I had talked to Garnet, but that remark had hit me harder, than I was willing to admit.

I thought, I had somewhat gotten over the confusing thoughts from last night, but now they all just came bubbling back to the surface.

I desperately needed some meditation right now.


End file.
